Corcoran Group broker Deborah Rieders was ahead of the curve when she moved to Williamsburg in 1989.
“I truly didn’t understand why my friends and family members would pay so much more to live in Manhattan, when you can have so much more space, so much more sky, so much more nature — and really more interesting culture and a less expensive way of life,” Rieders told The Real Deal.
Her instinct proved to be correct, but whether the borough is still considered Manhattan’s more affordable counterpart remains to be seen. As the brokerage’s top Brooklyn sales agent, Rieders sold $94 million in real estate last year — including a Cobble Hill carriage house featured in “Eat, Pray, Love,” which she sold to pianist and singer Norah Jones for $6 million.
The market in Brooklyn wasn’t always so rosy, however. Rieders remembers a Williamsburg that was nothing but “dead buildings and burnt-out cars.”
In the above video, Rieders discusses her most challenging listing during her first days as a broker — a townhouse directly under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which she believed would never sell.
For more videos, visit The Real Deal’s YouTube page.